Man involved in Stamford police shooting killed in prison

Updated 10:30 pm, Friday, January 11, 2013

STAMFORD -- A Stamford man serving a 25-year sentence on drug and weapons charges after shooting a city police officer during a raid on his apartment was killed in a fight Friday morning with another inmate in a federal prison in northeast Pennsylvania.

Kim Straesser, spokeswoman for United States Penitentiary in Canaan Township, Pa., said 29-year-old Ephraim Goitom was pronounced dead at a hospital Friday morning about an hour after the fight.

The Times-Tribune, of Scranton, reported that staff responded to the fight and separated the inmates. The other prisoner was treated for minor injuries. His name wasn't released.

The FBI is investigating.

Goitom was arrested Dec. 9, 2010, after he fired a round from his Ruger .357-caliber revolver through the back door of his 162 Lockwood Ave. apartment and hit Sgt. Richard Gasparino in the face as the sergeant and other officers were attempting to serve a search warrant. Goitom maintained that there was a violent home invasion earlier in the day at the apartment and he believed a robber was returning.

Gasparino, who shared the Stamford Police Officer of the Year award with his partner in 2009, was hospitalized for three days and needed more than 100 stitches in the cheek and neck. The incident was the first criminal shooting of a Stamford officer in 38 years.

According to federal court records, Goitom sent a letter to his girlfriend from federal prison in Rhode Island after the shooting that read: "I shot a cop in the face. LOL."

Goitom was serving two concurrent 25-year sentences on state and federal charges.

During sentencing on the state charges in state Superior Court in Stamford, Goitom apologized to Gasparino and said he accepted responsibility for his actions.

"It's good to hear you have recovered quickly and you are out doing what you do best," Goitom told Gasparino during the July court sentencing.

Stamford Police Chief Jon Fontneau said that he was informed of Goitom's death by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Dayton, who prosecuted Goitom in federal court.

"The loss of life is always tragic," Fontneau said. "I informed Sgt. Gasparino, who said he felt the same way."

Goitom's defense attorney, Darnell Crosland, said he was heartbroken by the news of his client's death.

"I can only imagine the pain he must have gone through," Crosland said. "We all make mistakes, but I have said it before and I will say it again: Ephrain was not a hardened criminal. Our prisons house so many people of different criminal degrees, thus there is a risk that this could happen.

" I really appreciated Efrain's intelligence and was confident that he would come out and be a productive citizen. As a defense attorney, this is a lost one."